Private Tour

Datong Yungang Grottoes and Hanging Monastery 1-day from Beijing by Train

Overview

Available languages

English

12 hours

Mobile ticket

1) Taking advantage of the newly built Beijing-Datong bullet train, your day trip to Datong becomes possible. It only takes 2 hours each way. It is something perfect to do if you have an extra day in Beijing.

2) Our guide in Datong is one of the best tour guides, fluent in English, and knowledgeable about Shanxi history and culture. Very experienced in time management also to make sure you enjoy the most.

3) Have a taste of Shanxi-style food at lunch, not found in Beijing.

4) Private tour, so you will have a dedicated team to work for you.

Additional Info

Public transportation options are available nearby

Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

What‘s Included

All Fees and Taxes

English-speaking tour guide extremely knowledgeable about the history.

Air-conditioned vehicle

Professional driver in Datong along with a nice car.

Beijing and Datong train station transfers (from hotel to station and back)

Bullet train tickets between Beijing and Datong (round-trip)

Chinese Shanxi-style dishes and noodles.

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

What To Expect

Yungang Grottoes

The Yungang Grottoes are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture. It is one of the three most famous ancient sculptural sites of China. They were built in the period between 460-525 AD during the Northern Wei Dynasty. The grottoes are an outstanding example of Chinese stone carvings from the 5th and 6th centuries. Altogether, the site is composed of 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes. In 2001, the Grottoes named a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a "masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art... [and] ...represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices."

2 hours • Admission Included

Hengshan Hanging Temple (Xuankong si)

The Hanging Temple, also Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple, is a temple built into a cliff. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. With the history of 1,500 years, the temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also the only existing temple with the combination of three Chinese traditional religions: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The primary support system hides inside the bedrock. The monastery sits in the small canyon basin. The body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight. Coupled with the repair of the dynasties, the color tattoo in the temple is relatively well preserved.

1 hour • Admission Included